Connor Wickham scores again ..

[Viduka95]

Wickham can score at Stamford Bridge and the Etihad but not at Turf Moor!

[isrodger]

McDermott was trying to find a way to include Smith, Wickham and McCormack because, unlike Wickham, Smith was scoring goals. He either had to drop Wickham and a player of his calibre, or bench him - either way you'd find a reason to call him clueless.

Agreed, I'm personally getting fed up of people finding this that and any excuse to have a go at BM - with some he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Lets just support our manager.

Have you seen our football - we are awful. Apart from fullback BMc has signed a full team, some of which have been abject failures. At this moment in time I would find it difficult to nominate a worse manager in the past ten years, and that is saying something. I honestly can only recall one game this season when we have played really well and thouroghly deserved 3 points, brum at home. I really would like a degree of continuity in terms of the managers position, but I just do not think the fella is up to the job.

[isrodger]

During Ipswich's cup run in 2011, Wickham played left wing (albeit in a 4-3-3).

That was when he was a lot younger and less physically developed, the other point is BMc signed 3 wingers around January, but chose to play a really good championship centre forward out of position instead. I appreciate he attempted to accommodate smith, and wickham had a good game in his last match, but yet again we appear to be intent on persisting in putting square pegs in round holes.

[1964white]

McDermott was trying to find a way to include Smith, Wickham and McCormack because, unlike Wickham, Smith was scoring goals. He either had to drop Wickham and a player of his calibre, or bench him - either way you'd find a reason to call him clueless.

Agreed, I'm personally getting fed up of people finding this that and any excuse to have a go at BM - with some he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Lets just support our manager.

Sorry you are fed up because folk have different opinions on BM

The main reason he won't be a success at LUFC is because he has his favourites & has spent the majority of the season accommodating players in his teams. Wickham should have been played upfront with McCormack throughout his loan stay, no point in signing him if he intended to play CW on the right-wing.
What is with LUFC managers ? Wickham, Barkley, Townsend, Bannan, Livermore all talented young players sent back to their respective clubs with their tails between their legs

As for the turnaround, yes six welcomed points this week but Blackpool & Barnsley are very very poor, infact our five wins in 2014 have come against teams we've played whilst they were in the bottom six, not a bad thing by any means as they are the teams to beat when you're in a survival dogfight !

[1964white]

During Ipswich's cup run in 2011, Wickham played left wing (albeit in a 4-3-3).

That was when he was a lot younger and less physically developed, the other point is BMc signed 3 wingers around January, but chose to play a really good championship centre forward out of position instead. I appreciate he attempted to accommodate smith, and wickham had a good game in his last match, but yet again we appear to be intent on persisting in putting square pegs in round holes.

Spot on

[Deleted User 2747]

McDermott was trying to find a way to include Smith, Wickham and McCormack because, unlike Wickham, Smith was scoring goals. He either had to drop Wickham and a player of his calibre, or bench him - either way you'd find a reason to call him clueless.

Agreed, I'm personally getting fed up of people finding this that and any excuse to have a go at BM - with some he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Lets just support our manager.

Sorry you are fed up because folk have different opinions on BM

The main reason he won't be a success at LUFC is because he has his favourites & has spent the majority of the season accommodating players in his teams. Wickham should have been played upfront with McCormack throughout his loan stay, no point in signing him if he intended to play CW on the right-wing.
What is with LUFC managers ? Wickham, Barkley, Townsend, Bannan, Livermore all talented young players sent back to their respective clubs with their tails between their legs

As for the turnaround, yes six welcomed points this week but Blackpool & Barnsley are very very poor, infact our five wins in 2014 have come against teams we've played whilst they were in the bottom six, not a bad thing by any means as they are the teams to beat when you're in a survival dogfight !

I have nothing against people having different opinions, at all, I just personally just find the use of BM as a scape goat a limited argument when there are so many other contributory factors to our poor season; and I personally find the use of derogatory terminologies unpleasant!

[Deleted User 2747]

McDermott was trying to find a way to include Smith, Wickham and McCormack because, unlike Wickham, Smith was scoring goals. He either had to drop Wickham and a player of his calibre, or bench him - either way you'd find a reason to call him clueless.

Agreed, I'm personally getting fed up of people finding this that and any excuse to have a go at BM - with some he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Lets just support our manager.

Have you seen our football - we are awful. Apart from fullback BMc has signed a full team, some of which have been abject failures. At this moment in time I would find it difficult to nominate a worse manager in the past ten years, and that is saying something. I honestly can only recall one game this season when we have played really well and thouroghly deserved 3 points, brum at home. I really would like a degree of continuity in terms of the managers position, but I just do not think the fella is up to the job.

I take your point completely.

The issue I struggle with is how badly the club has been run and especially under GFH. How much that has contributed to BM's management is something of an unknown quantity as they lied from the start. IMHO I see no point in doing anything drastic until the club is on a firmer footing - hopefully this will now start to happen. BM may or may not be the guy to do the job, but most managers mentioned as a possible replacement are for not particularly outstanding either.

[Deleted User 728]

Frankie: welcome to the forum, mate.
It's the best place to be a Leeds fan online

I know what you're saying about BMcD and that you want to give him a chance and up to a point I do actually agree with you.
I was up in Leeds the week Cellino first arrived and went to the Ipswich match on the Tuesday night before staying with a mate in Northallerton. On the drive back there, I listened to an interview with the manager saying "People don't know what it's like. It's really hard to work under these conditions" etc and I was angry when I got in, feeling a manager like WGS would've been stirring the players up in the face of adversity, using it to his advantage to bring them together and engender team spirit.
Then, later in the week, the story about Festa broke and I suddenly had some sympathy for BMcD. I imagined how I would feel if my replacement was brought in to work alongside me like that and how it must look to the squad.
He was dignified throughout what was a difficult week, and the players were seemingly roused because they then beat 'udders on the Saturday. That game was not as clear cut as the scoreline suggested though and on another day could've been a draw or even a defeat had they taken their chances, especially in the first half.
Anyway ... since then, the takeover has rumbled on with the court cases and appeals, but the fact remains BMcD isn't a proactive manager.
The trouble with surrounding yourself with favoured personnel from the past is that when the time comes to stand them down, you're too close to them. It makes it difficult. I think he likes to be popular. He's a nice bloke, everyone loves him. But you can't afford to be like that in management - you have to make the right decisions at the right time and for the right reasons. He doesn't do that: he waits for an opportunity and then uses it.
I'll give you two examples:
Kebe - obviously not match-fit when he arrived but he'd been heralded as a saviour and the wideman we'd been hoping for. Obviously bloody awful in his first few games but undroppable in BMcD's eyes because he was determined he'd come good eventually. Finally dropped because he was injured - was he ? The jury's still out on that one ...
Austin - obviously bloody awful in an advanced position, negating not just his own strengths but those of the players around him like Murphy, who was forced into playing a holding role. Waited till he was injured/suspended to drop him (can't remember which, doesn't really matter) and has yet to return to the team with Tonge filling in and doing a decent job.

Ultimately, the manager carries the can. The buck stops with him.
Hell, if I was Brian I'd go for it in these last few games: we're safe from relegation, Massimo owns the club, the only way is up. The question is will he be here for it ? I doubt it and I think he knows the writing's on the wall, too ... but why not have a go, a real go ? Why not play an attacking formation with the players in their proper roles ?
Take a step back: look at who's performed and where and in what formation and just go for broke ... chances are you'll be out of a job in a few weeks anyway, so roll the dice, man.

Before it's too late ...

[gilesdriveby]

Wickham on the wing. Reminds me of an old Irish fable where Dept of Agriculture decided to loan out the best bull in Ireland to improve the quality of the herd. The bull was loaned out to a farmer and his wife. A month later the Dept inspector arrived to check on the bulls performance. The wife sheepishly told him the farmer and bull were in the top field. Later the inspector looked in horror at the scene in front of him. Ireland's prize bull was pulling a heavy plough up and down the field. The farmer was walking beside him shouting 'I'll teach you theres more to life than romance.'

Similarly BMD calls WIckham in on his first day at lufc to tell him ' I'll teach you son there's More to life than scoring goals.'

[isrodger]

Just one other point on wickham who along with Rmc would give us arguably the best strike force in the division. Do you honestly think he would now want to play for BMc given he played him out of position when he had him on loan? Not that we are likely to get him now, given he will probably be leading the lie for Sunderland next season.